9 – First Excursion, and…. (2)
He had been walking aimlessly when he suddenly found himself at a familiar place, his old middle school, before transitioning to this world.
The surroundings had changed quite a bit, but the school’s location was still the same. That was why he was able to find it.
Yeo-ul stood in front of the school gate, looking at the school.
The old green paint was peeling off, and the new gate was bright and sturdy.
The sand-covered playground, which used to be filled with dust whenever the wind blew, now had lush green grass growing.
The buildings, which had been weathered by time, now had fresh, clean paint.
His school had also changed a lot.
As Yeo-ul watched the changes with a mix of emotions, she suddenly remembered the low embankment behind the school. He had often escaped to the outside world by jumping over it.
Could it still be there?
He walked around the school. At first, the other embankments seemed about the same height as before. They were cleaner, but…
Soon, he arrived at the back of the school. And there it was, the low embankment. The place where his feet often touched was still there, just like when he had jumped over it before.
Maybe it was because the back was less visible to people. Compared to the front, it definitely seemed less remodeled.
Yeo-ul walked over the embankment and into the school.
The area was much darker than other parts of the school. He remembered that there were quite a few students who smoked here.
Now, not a single person like that could be seen.
If you listened carefully, you could hear sounds here and there, as if classes were in progress. When a voice presumed to be a teacher spoke, voices that seemed to be students responded.
The atmosphere of the school seemed much better than before.
He walked towards the front of the school.
The playground was empty. There seemed to be no class immediately conducting physical education.
The urethane track surrounding the edge of the playground. Yeo-ul crossed it and stepped on the grass. Indeed, it was much softer than sand. He thought that there would be few injuries if he were active here.
Then, music echoed throughout the entire school. It seemed like it was break time. Some students came out from the teachers’ area, and he sat on a bench installed on the edge of the playground, watching them.
Quite a number of students were passing by. Yeo-ul, watching them, noticed something peculiar.
Every student he had seen so far, all of them were different species.
Some students had ears and tails like Soyoung, some had elongated ears, some had unusual skin colors, and some…
Not a single student who looked human could be seen.
He knew this was not ordinary.
Based on what he had observed while walking around the streets until now, there were many humans, or at least they looked like humans. But now, where did all those humans go, and there were only different species in the school?
He suspected that his alma mater had been transformed into a school attended only by different species.
And the gaze of those students was focused on Yeo-ul.
Because there was a seemingly ordinary human sitting on a bench inside the school.
Yeo-ul didn’t care whether they talked or not; he just sat quietly.
Is he a substitute teacher? But why a human? It looks somewhat atmospheric.
The sounds of them talking reached Yeo-ul’s ears.
The students just observed him from a distance and didn’t approach. Before long, the music echoed again. With it, the students returned to their respective places.
The empty playground.
Only the faint sound of birds chirping, as if announcing peace, could be heard.
As Yeo-ul sat quietly, enjoying the sunlight, thinking about moving somewhere else—
At that moment.
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Without any warning, the empty air shimmered, and sparks began to fly from there.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—the birds scattered all at once, and simultaneously, sirens roared throughout the entire school.
– A spontaneous dimensional portal has been detected on the school grounds. Estimated as a Grade 3 dimensional portal, so students, please quickly move to the designated shelter inside the school. This is a real situation. Once again, we repeat. There is currently a spontaneous dimensional portal in the school…
Thud-thud-thud-thud—the announcement echoed, and at the same time, the entire school shook with footsteps. Through the windows, students appeared to be in panic, rushing out of the classrooms.
All students were evacuating at once.
Yeowel was still sitting quietly on the bench.
He stared intently at the distorted empty space. At first, there was only a slight distortion, but soon it seemed to crumple, as if the glass was shattering into fragments.
“Hey student! What are you doing there?”
Someone in the distance shouted at Yeowel.
It seemed to be a teacher guiding students to the shelter.
The person who was guiding the students from outside to the shelter mistook Yeowel for a student when they noticed him sitting blankly on the field and shouted at him.
“Come this way quickly! Hurry! You’ll die if you stay there!”
Whip, swish. He gestured vigorously. The students he was evacuating also noticed Yeowel sitting far away and panicked.
The Dimensional Gate that was supposed to appear here was a level 3. It was a grade that even an ordinary hunter would not dare to confront the monsters coming out of there, so their reaction was natural.
In their minds, they could imagine Yeowel being torn in half by the monsters.
“Oh no! What do we do?”
“Hey! You too, hurry inside! Quickly!”
The teacher urged the students to go inside, and then called Yeowel again.
“Student! Hurry!”
He shouted too loudly. A tearing sound came from his throat, as if it was being ripped apart.
But no matter how desperately he shouted, Yeowel just remained calm, sitting quietly.
The shattered empty space soon split apart, revealing cracks inside.
It was a sign that the Dimensional Gate was about to open.
“Teacher! Even the teacher, come in quickly! Hurry!”
Going back and forth between the crack and Yeowel, he soon closed his eyes tightly and leaped into the shelter.
During the silence.
From the half-opened crack, two large somethings appeared, which could be seen with bare hands, and he held them wide open.
Following the hand gesture, the crack tore open, and beyond it, a black figure in the shape of a person came out.
Goong─!
As it appeared, dimensional vibrations spread strongly, and the air around it became heavy due to the strong magic it emitted.
────!
It roared in a sound that humans couldn’t hear. Shockwaves burst out violently, and the windows of the surrounding buildings shattered all at once. Leaves hanging on trees could no longer withstand it and scattered in all directions.
After spitting out only the black figure, the Dimensional Gate gradually shrank and soon disappeared, leaving only a crumpled space.
As the roar subsided, it turned its head around, as if trying to determine where it was and what was around it, as if trying to grasp its surroundings.
Looking down at the grass beneath their feet, gazing at the school building in the distance, and lifting their gaze to the clear sky and the sun above it.
Finally, it directed its head towards Yeoul, who was sitting quietly on the bench.
Even though there were no visible organs, Yeoul had the feeling that it made eye contact with it.
It was like a shadow. The seokaman-shaped figure with a human form seemed to have no physical organs.
It slowly approached Yeoul. Without its feet touching the ground, floating in the air, very slowly.
The path it passed. Everything beneath its feet, without exception, lost its circular shape and decayed.
Eventually, it reached in front of Yeoul. It brought its head close to Yeoul as if examining every part that could be presumed to be its head.
Yeoul caught a whiff of it. A very strong odor. The smell of rotting life, as if it could be smelled on a gruesome battlefield.
The one observing Yeoul intently roared again right in front of Yeoul’s face.
──────!!!
Everything around them was blown away by its aftermath, yet strangely, Yeoul and the bench they were sitting on remained completely calm, as if nothing had happened.
It slowly brought its head back, standing upright in its original position.
Soon, an even stronger magical power began to emanate from its body.
Even for an ordinary person, it was a concentration so strong that even breathing would be difficult, but now it had reached a level where an ordinary person would die from magical power poisoning.
Yeoul, who had been observing the whole process while sitting, leisurely stood up from the bench.
And then, they reached for the earring they had on their ear.
The crucifix-shaped earring gradually grew larger and soon formed the shape of a sword.
Yeoul held it in one hand, tightly gripping it as if it had been waiting.
In that moment, as soon as Yeoul held the sword in their hand, it clenched one hand as if it had been waiting and lunged towards Yeoul─
In the blink of an eye, the fist approached Yeoul’s face in a time so short it could be divided into dozens or hundreds.
Yeoul’s height, only half of that fist, was right in front of their nose.
Just a little, just a little bit of time passed, and in front of the fist that could crush everything in front of it without leaving a trace of its form, Yeoul─
Simply swung the sword.
Nameless Sword – Il Sik Il Sip
True Strike